Gainsbourg was surely the only man ever to have written hit songs about the joys of incest, sodomy, motorcycles and cigarettes and to still be awarded the Chevalier Des Arts et Lettres, his country¹s highest artistic honour. Summarising his approach to life and art, he said: "Without controversy it would all be very boring" and "For me, provocation is oxygen."

Gainsbourg died in 1991, since when his influence and popularity have only grown. His life is celebrated in Joann Sfar's recent film, Serge Gainsbourg - une vie heroique (Serge Gainsbourg - a heroic life).

Brigitte Bardot, BB, La bebe, is a symbol of the age of the Pill and the Playboy philosophy. After her first film at the age of 17 she was catapulted to fame. Her beauty and unashamed senuality are well known, it's arguable that no woman has ever created a greater impact on her times and film-makers, actresses and designers continue to pour through the doors of permisssivity she kicked open with elan.

At the dawn of the 1960's, as Gainsbourg was busy establishing himself as the enfant terrible of chansons, Bardot, having already struck the first cinematic blow for women's liberation with 'And God created Woman', was France's biggest star and the symbol for a new breed of femininity and sexuality that would change the world...